Patrick Charles Keely (August 9, 1816 — August 11, 1896) was an Irish-American architect based in Brooklyn, New York, and Providence, Rhode Island. He was a prolific designer of nearly 600 churches and hundreds of other institutional buildings for the Roman Catholic Church or Roman Catholic patrons in the eastern United States and Canada, particularly in New York City, Boston and Chicago in the later half of the 19th century. He designed every 19th-century Catholic cathedral in New England. Several other church and institutional architects began their careers in his firm.
Early life in Ireland
Keely was born in Thurles, County Tipperary, then a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on August 9, 1816, to a family in comfortable circumstances. His draftsman and builder father introduced him to architecture and training in construction; having come from Kilkenny to work on the building of St. Patrick's College, Thurles and Patrick was educated there, though nothing is recorded of his architectural design education.
Life in Brooklyn, New York
Keely emigrated to the United States, landing at Castle Garden in Manhattan in 1842, and settling in Brooklyn. He arrived at a time when Catholicism in the United States was expanding from its initial footholds in Baltimore, New York City and Boston. Initially, he worked as a carpenter and builder since there were few trained architects practicing and most structures were erected with the design assistance of the client and builder alone. Common practice held that the builder, whether trained as mason or carpenter, crafted his own plans, and details were often executed without even the aid of drawings. For a number of years Keely worked at his trade without attracting attention. During this time, he met the Rev. Sylvester Malone, a Roman Catholic priest his own age.
In 1844 Malone was appointed pastor of St. Mary's Church in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and set about building a new church. As Know nothing sentiment was strong in the area, Malone let it out that the land he had purchased was for a cemetery. When the people in the area decided that they would rather have a church than a graveyard, opposition subsided. Together with Keely, he worked out a plan for a Gothic church possessing pointed arches, pinnacles, and a few buttresses. Working as a carpenter, Keely produced designs from which the new church was built in 1846. Malone renamed it the Church of Ss. Peter and Paul to avoid confusion with another St. Mary's in Manhattan. The stained glass was by the Morgan Brothers, thus establishing a business relationship with Keely that carried through a number of projects. The church was demolished in 1957, when a new Ss. Peter and Paul was built.
In 1846, Kelly married Sarah Farmer; they had seventeen children, ten of whom lived to adulthood. Two of his sons worked in his office, another became a successful musician, the fourth, a physician. Sarah Keely died in 1876.
Architectural career
The Church of Sts. Peter and Paul was considered an epoch in Catholic building in America. The much-praised work established him as a competent architect and builder at a time when a number of new Roman Catholic churches were being planned "but a relative scarcity of competent architects of the Roman Catholic faith, and Keely's reputation for honesty and integrity quickly made him a popular choice among the hierarchy and clergy throughout the eastern United States."
Thereafter, Keely effectively became the in-house architect for the Roman Catholic archdioceses and was approached from all sides with requests for designs of churches and other necessary structures for an expanding religious life. Art historian William Pierson Jr. said of Keely that "... he developed a practice which ultimately became a virtual monopoly in Catholic Church building for more than a quarter of a century."
In Brooklyn alone there was a great wave of Catholic settlers for whom churches were urgently needed and Keely was the only one thought of to do the work. He continued as a carpenter / craftsman in conjunction with his designing duties. The neo-gothic St. Mary Star of the Sea in Carrol Gardens was built in 1853 with one center aisle and two side aisles. Keely was assisted by carpenter Thomas Houghton. The cornerstone of St. Mary's on Kent Avenue was set in November 1854. The red brick church was dedicated by Bishop John Loughlin and its name changed to St. Patrick's. The building is noted for its roof dormers that illuminate windows in the wall of the nave.
St. Brigid's on E 8th St. in Manhattan was built in 1848 to a Carpenter Gothic design by Keely, who carved the five-pinnacle reredos, organ case, and wooden altar himself.